Welcome To The Blog!
Life Update: May ‘24
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Oh hey! Welcome to my blog!
I’ve contemplated starting a blog for probably a decade now. I wish I’d done it sooner because my life has changed so much from my mid-20s to my mid-30s and it would have been an incredible “journal” to look back upon. Better late than never though, right?
As I begin this first post, I can’t help but wonder if blogs are still relevant. Do people read them anymore?
Honestly, I’m not sure.
I know there will always be people who love to read (me among them) and I love to write, so why not do it here?
I’m glad you’ve joined me.
Motherhood & Moving
The post-nap hair is immaculate!
Life has been hectic lately. On top of raising an energetic toddler, we recently moved into a new home. The process to get here took us several more months than we expected, but we finally made it!
The short version of the story is that we put an offer in on the house in June of ‘23. Then there was a huge storm, and a lot of issues with the previous owner’s insurance company ensued… Fast-forward to December ‘23, and we finally closed on the house. After 4 months of renovations, we moved in mid-April ‘24. You’d think that 4 months of work would mean we really did a lot to the place, but it’s not nearly as major as it sounds.
I live in a very small town and had a one-man operation doing the work alongside my family and I. We completely gutted and redid the master bathroom, pulled up all of the gross old carpet to put down plank flooring, and painted.
It looks fantastic and fresh, but not like it should have taken 4 months. Perhaps my expectations were just not a match for reality? Can’t say it’s the first time that’s happened to me.
It was also difficult to find time to get to the house to do work because I have a toddler who I adore and hate to be away from. He’s the reason I built a business where I can work from home. I exclusively work while he sleeps and not while he’s awake, which means my “free time” to work on the house was very limited. I’m fortunate to have in-laws who live half a block from our new home, so I do have the luxury of child care. However, I am just as attached to my son as he is to me, so I’d only come up for a couple of hours at a time, a few days a week.
The short story has gotten long, as is the way with midwesterners.
All that is to say, after 4 long months (or, more accurately, 10, if you count the time from the initial offer), we’re finally settled!
Cleaning Must Haves
Something to know about me is that I like a clean home. Unfortunately, the previous owners left in a hurry, and the house was pretty filthy.
Another thing to know about me is that I’m in my low-tox era. With a young child and a desire to get pregnant again soon, I needed some natural cleaners that wouldn’t disrupt my hormones or harm my son.
Steam Cleaner
Enter the steam cleaner, which uses literally zero chemicals. Talk about low-tox!
I wish I’d found it sooner. It would have saved me a lot of elbow grease as I whipped this house into shape.
The first place I tested the handheld steam cleaner was in our main bath. I had a sneaking suspicion that the grout was not, in fact, brown as it appeared.
The grout before steam cleaning.
Turns out, I was right. Just look at the difference!
The grout after cleaning 🤯
I mean, my mind was blown! And I was also pretty disgusted. I think I could have gotten even more up, but holy moly, what a difference!
If you don’t own a steam cleaner, this is your sign to get one asap!
The only downside to steam cleaning is that it’s pretty loud. My husband described it as a basilisk hiss. It’s not something I wanted to use while my son was in the house because he is super curious and would have wanted to be close to me while using it, but the hiss is pretty loud and high-pitched. Luckily, his grandma was happy to hang out with him while I cleaned.
Vinegar-Based Cleaner
The most used low-tox cleaners in my arsenal are the vinegar-based cleaners from Aunt Fannie’s. I love the vinegar all-purpose spray and the floor cleaner. My personal favorites are the eucalyptus scent, but I’m dying to try the lemon scent next. They used to have an orange scent that was pretty nice as well.
I’ll be honest, the vinegar smell does take a little getting used to. However, now I associate it with cleanliness so it smells, dare I say, fresh? Maybe it’s just a me thing.
Next Steps
We’re pretty much settled now and looking toward projects on the exterior of the home next.
I almost hate to do it, but eventually, I’ll share pictures of the exterior. It’s a truly horrible shade of pea green that’s faded and aged. I warn you, it may hurt your eyes and cause nightmares, but we’ll get through it together!
We’ll dive into painting the exterior soon and I cannot wait to see how much a new color will elevate the curb appeal! The challenge now is choosing a color. Ideally we’ll find something that’s to our taste, but also appeals to future buyers.
Should be a fun challenge. We only tried literally 20 colors inside the house before landing on a handful we liked 🙃
Wish us luck!
